1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to down hole oil and gas well tools, and more particularly to an improved easily removable fluted safety joint for use in cased hole applications wherein wire line or wash pipe is to be guided into a screen and liner as part of washing out the liner, sand control, or the like.
2. General Background
It is common to line producing oil and gas wells with a casing which is simply a long string of connected sections of pipe, thus providing a hollow casing bore. The casing bore is occupied by a production string that extends down into the bore. It is known to run a number of tools known as down hole tools into the cased hole and upon such a production string to accomplish numerous tasks related to a cleaning of, servicing of or operation of the well.
There is presently available a commercial device that comprises a fluted body that can be attached atop a screen and liner for guiding a wire line or wash pipe inside the screen liner. One such fluted device is commercially sold by Texas Iron Works. The prior art devices, however, suffer because retrieval of the screen and liner is difficult or impossible. The user must often mill the fluted tool in order to retrieve the screen which is an expensive and time consuming procedure. These prior art devices cannot be retrieved by using a standard overshot or a common releasing tool. Further, the prior art devices do not provide any means for allowing a screen liner packer to be set in position on the device in order to control bottom hole pressure.